Warning: mktime() expects parameter 1 to be long, string given in /home/bettyt45/public_html/insurance-integrity/wp-content/plugins/oldpostlinks_v1_1-disable-allcats.php on line 119
Mercury General Corp., today is expected to announce rate cuts for about 1.7 million of its Ca. automobile insurance and homeowner insurance consumers, mainly in Southern Ca..
The owners of 1.5 million automobiles will shave 3% off their annual bills, about $30 per automotive, according to the Ca. Department of Insurance. Savings statewide should total $41 million a year. Mercury is the third-largest auto insurer in Ca., with 9.7% of the market.
The automobile insurance rate reductions were based partially on new state criteria that downplay the importance of the ZIP Code where a automobile is typically parked overnight. The cut took effect in May but had not been announced, the department said.
Ca. has had the country’s most heavily regulated insurance business since voters approved Proposition 103 in 1988.
Mercury’s new rates for homeowner insurance, which take effect in Aug., will drop by 10% for 224,000 consumers. That represents individual savings of about $100 a year for homes in Southern Ca. and $83 elsewhere in the state.
Renters’ premiums will drop by 33%, saving approximately $85 a year for Mercury’s consumers in Southern Ca. and slightly less in other parts of the state, the department said. The company is the state’s eighth-largest homeowner carrier, covering about 3% of insured dwellings.
The savings should be a huge help for renters, about 40% of Ca.’s population, particularly those who may have lost their previous homes to foreclosure cause of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the department said.
Under Poizner, savings from a number of automobile insurance rate reductions totaled about $1 billion for two thousand and seven and so far in two thousand and eight. Homeowners’ savings during the same period were $558 million, the Department of Insurance said.
Mercury’s cuts in automobile insurance rates are in line with recent business trends in Ca.. For the last few years, insurance outfits have earned strong profits with declines in accident frequency and severity.
Homeowners’ rates also declined under pressure from regulators but may be poised to rise again, business analysts said. The state’s 3 biggest outfits, covering more than half of insured homes, have requests for rate hikes pending.
Post a Comment